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Is the concept so hard to grasp, David... when you buy MSDN you pay ONE AMOUNT and get a WHOLE BUNCH of products. So with MSDN there is NO PRICE DIFFERENCE between poduct "A" in the package and product "X". Consequently, there is no profit difference between products for the package.
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Jim,

This is not the appropriate way to look at the issue. MSDN is the gateway - an enabler if you will. The key to dominance is the sale of licenses. For example, MS wants to make it as painless as possible to get the OS, server software, etc into the hands of developers - so that solutions can be delivered to clients. It is the end clients that will fork out the bucks.

A good analogy is Gillette. They will give you the razor - all you have to do is buy the blades...